With Great Content and Commitment, Creatives Will Find Their Audience

“So here we
are: a thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac. But we’re not going to stand
by as evil wipes out the galaxy. I guess we’re stuck together, partners.” – Peter Quill, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Marvel Studios, 2014

Cable
companies have been tough for networks/stations to work with because they have
been difficult to work with when it comes negotiation time

Networks
have been difficult for content creators/aggregators to deal with when it comes
to getting them to commit to a show, give the show a good time slot, market it
to optimize the audience

Viewers
have had issues with both the cable companies and the networks:

Cable folks charged
a bundle for their bundle and if you didn’t like it…get some rabbit ears

Cable support fell
a little short when it came to being timely/friendly/helpful

Networks found it
fun to move your favorite show from your preferred time, so it could lift
ratings for the upcoming show or get some of the carry over audience from the
last show

Networks had this
great habit of getting you addicted to a show and then replacing it with some
really dumb show

The
big question is what are we running to and is it like when your mom warned you,
“Don’t run with sharp objects!”?

People
like to give credit to – or blame – the FAANGS (Facebook, Amazon, Apple,
Netflix, Google, Snapchat) mob for making the change happen; but we certainly
can’t forget BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) and the leading OTT (over the top)
services in India, Australia, EMEA, everywhere!

It’s
gotten so good that 79 percent of consumers say their screen time has increased
over the last five years with 41 percent saying it has increased a lot,
according to a CooperVision study.

Hunger Continues – The global OTT viewing community continues to grow, both
in sets of eyeballs and the number of people who are willing to subscribe to
content. Viewing could quickly become people’s
most popular pastime.

And
it’s going to get bigger…a lot bigger!

Now,
people have choices–lots of choices.
Depending on your camp, the TV screen is still the most looked at (91
percent) followed by the smartphone (74 percent), laptop (73 percent) and DVD
player (64 percent). Yes, missy, the desktop computer (56 percent), tablet (46
percent) and game console (42 percent) still exist; we just don’t know why

Despite the distribution options and the viewing choices, we’ve already had a
number of high-profile, well-resourced
failures like Shomi, Seeso and Watchever, Filmstruck, DramaFever, Gamefly,
Nintendo, and who knows how many more in other countries.

Why?

Global OTT – Netflix has quickly and aggressively become the first
truly global video content service with subscribers in over 190 countries. They, and other OTT services with global
ambitions, are also producing content outside of the US and finding good
movie/series messages travel well no matter where they are produced.

Let’s
not sugarcoat it, it’s all Netflix’s fault!

They
sorta’ dominate the streaming market but they were the first and are currently
the largest with viewing presence with 170M plus subscribers in 190 plus
countries – noticeably absent are Crimea, North Korea, Syria.

Sure,
Hulu, HBO, Tencent, the Bollywood crowd and shortly Disney are pretty strong
but it’s Netflix every streamer wants to be, where every content creator wants
their material on and the one everyone wants to enjoy content from on their
screen(s).

What to produce?

The
first thing for the film/series creator is to figure out what content to
produce that’s going to capture eyeballs.

Back
in the old linear TV days, that was easy–the Nielsen ratings said it all.

But
now we have more distribution platforms that are dealing with exponentially
more data about their audiences’ likes/dislikes.

And
there’s going to be even more data going forward to help services and creators
tailor the production work that will be seen.

Secret Recipe – Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney and other video
storytelling investors have all mined their growing data stores and used highly
creative (and secretive) AI analytics to determine which projects should be
funded.

While
all of the big SVOD folks have their own big data and analytic engines to help
them figure out what they’ll invest in, they keep those secrets under lock and
key!

And
no, they don’t share!

But
fortunately, there is at least a 30,000 ft view for creators.

Parrot
Analytics has made a name for itself as the global TV demand measurement firm
across all devices/platforms worldwide.

We
realize most content creators have one or two real fire-in-the-gut/eye-of-the-tiger
project ideas that they just “have to” produce.
Things they have just got to show to folks.

But
if you’re interested in making a decent living along the way, you may want to
focus on themes viewers the world over tend to gravitate to.

Global Genre – Now that content distributors can “fairly” quickly
redub shows and add local subtitles, they are finding that projects like
documentaries, comedy and horror are well received, regardless of the country of
origin if they are great stories.

In
other words, if your project has a documentary, comedy or horror storyline, it
will have much broader audience appeal.

Sure,
content creators still must convince the services’ business model, internal
strategy, distribution, marketing and monetization committees; but at least you
have a seat at the production, commissioning tables.

Aggressive Investment – Netflix shook up the Hollywood establishment by more
aggressively going after scripts, showrunners and producers to deliver high-quality,
unique content to their subscribers. The
industry quickly followed suit, even though some like Seeso have retired from the
race.

Match
the genre information up with where the well-heeled content investors are
placing their bets and you have a pretty good idea of where the money is
going.

For
example, when Netflix “lost” the Disney catalog and then Disney decided to add
21st Century Fox to their OTT lineup, they knew they had a problem.

Gone But – Instead of retreating from the race when Netflix lost
the Disney and Fox titles, they focused on developing fresh content subscribers
(and friends) would want to pay for and view by deep diving into their viewer
preferences. Yes, it works.

What
did they do?

They
increased their investment in original content, both in the U.S. and in
countries around the globe, to comply with local content production rules.

According
to Parrot’s analysis, there are certain stars and show runners who know how to
appeal to specific demographics around the globe; so, if you combine specific
genres with proven appeal, BAM! you have winners folks are
willing to pay to view on various screens.

Sounds
ultra-techie; but just remember, it takes a terrific storyline, outstanding
shooting and damn creative post work to satisfy consumers’ entertainment
appetite.

But wait…there’s more!

Slight Variations – With data from subscribers around the globe and using
solid analytic/recommendation tools, Netflix has shown the content world that
if it plays well in Paris, Buenos Aires, Munich, Delhi, Keokuk; content will
appeal to viewers around the globe.

Blockbusters
and tentpole productions are only a small portion of the content that is produced
and watched annually.

There
are hundreds, thousands even tens of thousands of independent TV, film,
digital, kids, and animated projects that are created every year that would be of
interest to several hundred thousand, maybe a couple of million people around
the globe.

You
see them at film fairs around the globe and walk out feeling fulfilled…and want
more.

They
have great messages on diversity, inclusion, people/global survival and other thought-provoking
subjects.

Today,
we’re dealing with a highly fragmented audience and what is popular is
different for each of the 4B people on the planet currently connected to the
internet.

It’s
tough for streaming service bosses to come to grips with the fact that popularity – as beauty – is in the eye
of the beholder.

Actually,
for a growing number of people, the less the content they view resembles the
Netflix, Tencent, Sky, BBC, you name it stuff the better.

There’s
an answer for this but it’s hard for a lot of channels to realize…it’s Chris
Anderson’s Long Tail, which was first advanced in 2004 in Wired magazine.

Long View – While some studios and content creators only focus on what
they hope will be the monster hits, there are 4B people online (and more every
day) who like variety in their entertainment.
If it’s a solid storyline and well produced, people will find the good/great
content that interests them.

We’re
talking about stuff that will attract viewers – again and again – from around
the globe.

Knocking
on the FAANGS/BAT/plus doors may go unanswered but there are people like Jon Cody,
TV4 Entertainment and All3Media who see the potential. And there are others around the industry,
around the globe.

You
know–gardening, ballet, model railway enthusiasts, cancer survivors, Wounded
Warriors, guitars, dance; well, you name the subject. And the volume of often low-budget, original
content niche channels is growing because these folks love the subject, their
willing to pay for it and…they keep coming back!

Remember,
there are 4B people online around the globe and Netflix only has 170M plus
signed up, so the potential is there!

The
challenge for the channels and content creators is to find enough of the people
online who want the subject and have enough passion about the content to
produce global critical mass (i.e., profit).

It
takes a little work for both parties to build the audience and it doesn’t mean advertising
the heck out of the subject – although it can help.

Recommendations Count – When you want to figure out what you can view on your
screens, simply go online and search, read reviews, consult experts or better
yet, ask people who have similar topic tastes and they’ll quickly tell you what’s
great, good, bad and a total waste. Finding good content is difficult but
finding recommendations in Canada or any country and … BAM!

When
we’re interested in possibly investing some time in a piece of content, we don’t
run to Rotten Tomatoes to see if it’s a ripe, rotten or splat tomato because
heck, that’s just a couple of “experts” opinions.

Besides,
if it’s a niche subject we’re interested in, the chances of them liking it are
like 1,2,3 in 4B.

What
are the odds?

WOM
(word of mouth) is still the best and most effective way of learning if you’re
going to like something!

It
just takes longer to build a decent sized audience, which is why you also must
use the social media tools…Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter and even trailers
on YouTube.

Work
at finding the audience and they’ll find you.

Remember,
we all have different definitions of popularity…and finally, we can accurately quantify
it!

If
you’re committed to the concept, are good at your craft and have a solid team
to work with, you must keep your goal in mind as Gamora did when she said, “Whatever nightmares the future holds
are but dreams compared to what’s behind me.”